Writing to Inform

As we have already discovered, there are lots of different writing purposes. However, there are two main ones that you must know for the non-fiction section of your exam: writing to inform and writing to persuade/argue.

Writing to Inform

When information is communicated as clearly as possible. This can be helped by language, layout and presentation.

Language

Subject Specific Vocabulary  To inform us clearly you may need to use specialist words. For example, in a cook book you would expect to find words such as: recipe, whisk, stir, blend, ingredients etc.

Clear Sentences Make sure that you include a range of sentences and punctuation to make the meaning as clear as possible. You must use capital letters, full stops and commas. You may consider using brackets (these help you to add extra information).

Facts Informative texts should be based on facts. You are telling us about it - not exaggerating it.

Connectives Connectives can be a very useful way to guide someone. It can tell us the time (yesterday, last night, on the 1st January...), or help us to order or ideas (firstly, secondly, finally...)

Layout

Title / Headline A title or headline can be used to inform us about the main topic in the article and grab a reader's interest.

Columns or Text Boxes  Pages and pages of writing can be very difficult to read. Columns or text boxes break it down into manageable chunks which means that more people are likely to want to read it.


Subheadings Subheadings are another way to make a text more manageable to read. It also helps to summarise the keypoints of the article. This can be really useful if someone is skimming your article.

Bullet Points Another way of breaking your text down. These are particularly useful for lists.

Presentation

Images / Diagrams Sometimes it is much easier to understand a picture than a paragraph. Graphs, maps and diagrams all be used to communicate the message more clearly.


 Task: Find an informative text. Look at the language, layout and presentation. Does it match?


Write a PEE paragraph to explain the language, presentation or layout.


P: This is an informative text because is includes...
E: For example...
E: This helps to inform us clearly because...